First week of '06 is nearly done!

It's already Thursday, feeling very much like Wednesday on this shortened workweek. I'm glad it's not, though. I'm bushed! Tuesday was nearly thirteen hours spent in Walworth (Boondocks East), installing a ceramic tile floor in a tiny half-bath. Because there was some outside work to finish there first, I didn't actually begin the tile floor until almost eleven a.m. The tear-out was not fun at all. Not only that, but I had to run to the store for plumbing supplies related to the re-use of a nearly fifty-year-old toilet. It almost would have been worth the price to buy that customer a new toilet instead.

Wednesday featured the start of a major bathroom project: full-gut down to the bare studs. This one is in Rush, just off the expressway (Boondocks South). The walls were one half ceramic tile, and the tub was cast iron. Oh, my achin' back! Fortunately, the customer is very nice and the job is on the first floor (no stairs!). I've spent these last two days doing the tear-out and prepping for the new shower plumbing. I also managed to install all the upper sheets of new drywall. This wallboard is purple-colored, which I've never seen before. There's much to do, and a long way to go on this one. I think the back-breaking part is nearly done, though.

Locally, the weather has been the story: we've not seen the sun since the day before Christmas Eve. It's reaching the point where people are emailing our TV weathercasters demanding to know "when??". For me, I feel as though whatever batteries run my body are just about drained. I need some sun! The forecast, however, calls for falling temp's and some snow or sleet. Extreme darkness is predicted for tomorrow morning, just like every morning for the next few weeks. It's so hard to wake up in the dark, leave home in the dark, and arrive on the jobsite without having even glimpsed a lightened sky. Maybe the coming snow will bring some sparkling sunlight in its wake. I'm not holding my breath...